Case Study:
Nocatee,
Florida, and Sun
City Palm
Desert,
California

January 2014

Community Development
Districts & Home Owner
Associations Use Micro
Stations to Reach
Residents

The below examples
illustrate how
information radio is
making its way deeper
and deeper into
communities via HOAs,
CDDs and other
grassroots efforts to
help ensure that
property owners have as
much time and pertinent
information as possible
to prepare for disasters
and stay in touch with
local circumstances.
Collaboration with local
governments on funding
and FCC licensing not
only moves the projects
forward but also builds
community.

On
a good day, Lee Hovis
talks to visitors and
homeowners as they
navigate the North
Florida Resort Community
“Nocatee” about how to
participate in events
and take advantage of
the area’s amenities. On
a bad day, Hovis may be
advising residents how
to take steps to ride
out an approaching
hurricane. It’s all made
possible through an
innovative Information
Radio service
appropriately named “Nocatee
Radio.” Residents and
visitors receive the
1630 kHz radio signal on
their car radios within
a 3-5 mile radius of the
community.

The station’s broadcasts
(hear
sample) are designed
to direct visitors and
homeowners to venues in
the community, such as,
the new water park, bike
trails, neighborhood
developments, community
center and emergency
services. The District
is developing a plan to
utilize the radio
service to reach
residents during the
next emergency, when
power outages could
restrict their ability
to gain access to news
and information via the
Internet, cable/TV and
other methods that
depend upon electricity.

Lee
Hovis, the Community
Development District’s
operations manager,
states, “This radio
service is getting a lot
of praise. And, within
the next few months, I
will even be able to
update the broadcasts
from my computer at
home.” The station’s
programming, is
currently controlled on
the District’s Ethernet
network.

Because Nocatee is
organized as a Community
Development District (CDD)
– a unit of government
under Florida law – it
can hold its own FCC
license for the service.
Private community
organizations such as
Home Owner Associations
(HOAs) must coordinate
with a local unit of
government (county,
township, etc.) to
obtain a license.

The first private
community on record to
initiate an information
radio service was the
Pine Mountain Club
Property Owners
Association in 1999.
Located just south of
Bakersfield, California,
and situated right on
the San Andreas Fault,
the Pine Mountain Club
station keeps residents
apprised of earthquake
events, which, according
to operator Bob Clark,
“Is something we, in
California, have to deal
with…”

In
2004, the Wildland
Residents Association
near Santa Barbara,
California, began a
similar service called
the “San Marcos Pass
Emergency Radio Service
(SMPERS),” which has
been called into action
numerous times to inform
residents evacuating
neighborhoods in advance
of approaching
wildfires.
See "Putting Out Fires"
article. States
association president
Michael Williams, “When
the power goes out,
telephone lines are
down, there are no
computers and everything
stops, this system
allows anyone to turn on
the radio to hear
emergency advisories.”

The first example of a
gated community
implementing an
information radio
service is Del Webb’s
Sun City Palm Desert
Association in Southern
California. The
development covers 1,600
acres and has 4,995
homes and 9,000
residents in season. The
Association recently
installed an information
radio station managed by
a team of resident
volunteers.

According to team leader
Chuck Holliman, a power
outage in the summer
2011 made obvious the
need for the station.
“Many residents of our
desert community lost
both air conditioning
and communications – and
therefore were unable to
learn about emergency
cooling centers
available to them. This
radio station allows us
to provide essential
information to our
residents in future
emergencies.” The
station is powered by
the Association’s
generator should grid
power be lost.

Installed
in 2013, the
Association’s Emergency
Broadcast Radio Team is
on call 24/7 and can
activate prerecorded
radio messages stored in
the station’s memory
that match specific
threats that might
impact the community:
earthquake, flooding,
wildfire and power
outage. Once the threat
is better known, the
team can broadcast live
programming and record
special updates to keep
residents and visitors
apprised.
See Sun City Palm Desert
news release.

Because the 1620 kHz
signal can be received
for miles outside the
property boundaries,
locals in their cars or
with battery-powered
radio receivers can
learn if they may safely
return home after an
incident has occurred.
This is a real
possibility in a desert
community where flash
flooding, wildfires and
earthquakes can sever
transportation lines or
otherwise make travel
unsafe for an extended
period of time.

Sun City Palm Desert
Association operates the
information radio
station in conjunction
with the Riverside
County Fire Department,
the FCC licensee for the
service.